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The sustainable future of packaging: A biodegradable paper beer bottle

Authors:
Ellen Brilhuis-Meijer
Ellen Brilhuis-Meijer
Ellen Brilhuis-Meijer
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Prateek Saxena at Indian Institute of Technology Mandi
Prateek Saxena
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The sustainable future of packaging: A biodegradable paper beer bottle
Brilhuis-Meijer, Ellen; Saxena, Prateek
Published in:
Book of Abstracts. DTU's Sustain Conference 2015
Publication date:
2015
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Publisher final version (usually the publisher pdf)
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Citation (APA):
Brilhuis-Meijer, E., & Saxena, P. (2015). The sustainable future of packaging: A biodegradable paper beer bottle.
In Book of Abstracts. DTU's Sustain Conference 2015. [M-5] Lyngby: Technical University of Denmark.
The sustainable future of packaging: A biodegradable paper beer bottle
Ellen Brilhuis-Meijer1 and Prateek Saxena*1
1: DTU Mechanical Engineering
*Corresponding author email: prasax@mek.dtu.dk
The vision of the Green Fiber Bottle (GFB) project is to develop the world’s first
paper beer bottle, which will be both recyclable and biodegradable. It is
intended to be an environmentally sustainable alternative to the existing glass
and plastic beer bottles. To achieve this, both the bottle and the production
process that is required to shape the cellulose fibers into the bottle need to be
developed. This is done in a collaboration between Carlsberg, EcoXpac,
Innovation Fund Denmark and DTU.
To ensure that the GFB will offer an environmentally friendly solution, sustainability will be integrated in
the development process. Ecodesign approaches will be selected and applied each step of the way for both
the bottle itself and the required technologies. One of these approaches will be the use of Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA). Early on, the LCA will be based on predictions and assumptions, which will be replaced
with more precise data whenever it becomes available. The resulting calculation of the potential
environmental impact provides insight into the areas that may require specific attention, such as energy
consumption during the production process, transportation and recycling. With the availability of more
precise data will come more detailed insight, allowing more precise assessment of materials and emissions
that may be of concern. Other sustainability considerations include the sourcing of bio-based materials,
biodegradability and prevention of waste.
Besides the sustainability considerations, there are many other challenges for developing the GFB. These
include production challenges, such as the required throughput for Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)
and functional challenges, such as maintaining a pressure of up to 6 bar inside the bottle, limiting oxygen
ingress and achieving a shelf-life of at least 6 months.
To enable the production of the GFB, a new mass production process based on integrating fiber molding
and in-mold impulse drying technology will be developed, able to cope with the required production rate
and volume. Impulse drying is a technique to enhance the removal of water from paper pulp using a tool
heated to a temperature in the order of 250 °C. It exploits the partial vaporization of the liquid phase and
the consequently generated overpressure to quickly push the water out of the pulp which thus dries and
hardens.
The impulse drying will reduce both the need for energy and the production time for each bottle, thereby
reducing the production cost significantly. In this way the price of a GFB is intended to be competitive with
existing market solutions, thus making it attractive for companies to use.
Sustain DTU Abstract: M-5
... Due to constant thrive for sustainable alternatives, eco-friendly products such as tetra-pak R have emerged. However significant research is undergoing on development of molded paper products for carbonated beverages [3], [4]. Molded paper products can broadly be classified into Thick wall, Transfer molded, Thermoformed and Processed [5]. ...
... One such product is the Green Fiber Bottle (GFB). The GFB is intended to be an environmentally sustainable alternative to the existing glass and plastic beer bottles [3]. A quality evaluation of such bottles was recently reported by Saxena et al. [6]. ...
Process characterization for molding of paper bottles using computed tomographyand structure tensor analysis
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View
... A recent advancement in the category of MPP is the Green Fiber Bottle (GFB). The green product aims to replace the existing glass packaging for carbonated beverages with Energies 2020, 13, 2730 3 of 19 a sustainable paper-based packaging product [8,9]. From the energy perspective, efficient pulping methods could substantially reduce the cost of energy use in the preparation of paper pulp [10,11] and from the tooling perspective, additive manufacturing based tools for paper molding could further reduce the tooling costs and minimize the lead time for tool production [12]. ...
... However, a variety of challenges preclude full incorporation [13][14][15][16], as pointed out in Figure 2. MPP is the Green Fiber Bottle (GFB). The green product aims to replace the existing glass packaging for carbonated beverages with a sustainable paper-based packaging product [8,9]. From the energy perspective, efficient pulping methods could substantially reduce the cost of energy use in the preparation of paper pulp [10,11] and from the tooling perspective, additive manufacturing based tools for paper molding could further reduce the tooling costs and minimize the lead time for tool production [12]. ...
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... Due to constant thrive for sustainable alternatives, eco-friendly products such as tetra-pak R have emerged. However significant research is undergoing on development of molded paper products for carbonated beverages [3], [4]. Molded paper products can broadly be classified into Thick wall, Transfer molded, Thermoformed and Processed [5]. ...
... One such product is the Green Fiber Bottle (GFB). The GFB is intended to be an environmentally sustainable alternative to the existing glass and plastic beer bottles [3]. A quality evaluation of such bottles was recently reported by Saxena et al. [6]. ...
Process characterization for molding of paper bottles using computed tomography and structure tensor analysis
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Packaging products find their significance in almost all classes of consumer goods and products. The use of plastic and metal based packaging for beverages is highly dominant. However, there is a constant urge for development of eco-friendly packaging alternatives. The article focuses on characterizing an inflatable core assisted paper bottle molding process with respect to the obtained fiber distribution in the bottle. Distribution of paper fibers affect product characteristics such as thickness and mechanical strength of the bottle. Assessment of fiber orientation using structure tensor analysis is therefore performed. The results confirmed non-uniform fiber compaction in the paper bottle. This gives rise to non-conformities such as non-uniform thickness distribution. The approach discussed in the work can be utilized as a Non Destructive Testing technique to evaluate the quality of paper bottles.
View
... In previous studies it was concluded that the dewatering of the molded pulp was highly affected by the mold's temperature and the duration of the suction via vacuum rather than contact time and pressure [83]. Other than the production challenge, paper bottles also face functional challenges such as barriers towards moisture and oxygen and maintaining a pressure of up to 6 bar inside the bottle [84], which could be done by a protective layer on the inner side of the paper bottle. ...
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View
... The discussion in the current work is limited to the molded paper products (MPPs) only. An interesting application of the MPPs is as a packaging material for carbonated beverages (a paper bottle) [11]. MPPs are defined as a class of packaging products produced by molding of paper pulp. ...
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View
... The work done by Søllner is the basis for the development of new solutions for the production of paper bottles, even for carbonated beverages. Such a bottle is termed as the green fiber bottle (GFB) [6][7][8][9]. Saxena et al. [10] discussed and presented an assessment of the tools used for the molding of paper bottles and highlighted the challenges associated with the molding process. From a tooling perspective, the tool should be able to effectively flush out water from the pulp suspension during the molding process. ...
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... With a growing concern for sustainability of consumer products, paper is being considered for large number of applications. The Green Fiber Bottle is a biodegradable paper bottle that finds its application for carbonated beverages [1]. The product being non-homogeneous in nature demands a reliable product quality characterization technique. ...
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